Sockeyes Impressive September

The Sockeyes kick off the first month of the 2025-26 season with a perfect record in the win column outsourcing all opposition by a commanding 33 – 12 margin

Given the changes with the roster from last season the first order of business for the coaching staff was to get the overall confidence of the players which they obviously have attained.

As September wraps up the first month of league play they have managed a perfect record through six games with six wins scoring thirty-three goals. 

The largest and most notable stat for September shows the Sockeyes outshooting the opposition by an impressive 276 while allowing 145 on net which shows the overall explosive play to entertain their fans. 

Returning home they were facing the Chilliwack Jets who have been a powerhouse in the early part of the season considering the Jets have several returning players.

The Jets jumped out taking an early 2-0 lead in the first ten minutes of play which set up the league timeout which was the turning point of the contest.

Sockeyes Kai Adano opened the scoring at 16:01 with helpers going to Keelan Wyke and Mattias Uyeda that saw them trailing by one after twenty minutes.

The intermission seemed to be a turning point of motivation given that they came out with more of a jump starting the second setting up a pair of goals from Carter Voll at 4:36 and Jonathan Zhang getting his first of the season at 14:42 leading 3-2 after two periods.

They started the third again with an aggressive fast paced style of play grabbing a pair of goals from David Yoon while William Huo popped one in at 12:32 on the power-play.

The Jets found themselves trailing 5-2 and looking for a marker to get them back in the contest but the later part of the game saw them pull their goalie for the extra attacker managing to get one past Massimo Urbani making it a 5-3 contest.

For the Jets who were flying solo unlike one of Canada’s Snowbird’s they not only dropped the game they were outshot by a 57-27 total.

The next test was a road trip to take on last year’s champs the Ridge Meadow Flames in a contest that saw the Sockeyes dominate from the opening face-off pulling off an impressive 42-2 win outshooting the Flames by a 48-19 through sixty minutes.

To no surprise the Sockeyes grabbed the games first two stars with Luca Martyniuk named first star (2 goals) while Dylan Nazareth collected a goal and one assist in a game that was dominated by the visiting Sockeyes..

Returning home to the “Fish Tank” saw the visiting formerly Grandview Steelers, now the newly named Burnaby Steelers look to put an end to the winning streak the Sockeyes were riding.

Try as they might, the Steelers played an aggressive, physical game controlling the play from the start that saw the first period end tied at one with the Sockeyes outshooting the Steelers 18-12.

The second was again aggressive as the Steelers took advantage of loose pucks given up on the break-out the Sockeyes gave them.

Richmond turned up the pressure that saw Mattias Uyeda open the scoring in the second at 13:32 set up by Captain Teo Lin and Brody Lindal making it a 2-1 lead that saw Lin put them up 3-1 while playing shorthanded 1:32 later.

The Sockeyes maintained the lead but gave up on in the third finishing the game with a 3-2 lead again outshooting the visitors by an impressive 49-29 shots.

Captain Teo Lin was named first star with two goals and one assist while Mattias Uyeda was named second star with one goal along with his solid play while Steelers Landon Mailhot was named third star with one goal.

The Sockeyes were taking a perfect five game winning streak on the road playing the second year expansion Coastal Tsunami in Gibsons who to date continue to struggle in the early stage of the season.

It must be something about a road trip and a ferry ride that motivated the team to play not just aggressive but a disciplined game at times being “bated’ into the odd penalty mainly for what I refer to as retaliation style of penalty.

In today’s game that is more of the way the game is being played given the manner in which the rule changes have been implemented by Hockey Canada which are for the betterment of the game.

This contest was tied after one period just knowing that the Tsunami would like nothing better to hand the Sockeyes their first loss of the season, which wasn’t happening in this game. 

The second was all Rickmond with goals from Mattias Uyeda, Nazareth, Lindal and Beaudin finishing the second finishing with a 6-2 lead outshooting the Tsunami 32-17.

The third was more of a physical aggressive game with Richmond taking five minors while the Tsunami took six that saw the visitors score four goals allowing the home town Tsunami one.

The Sockeyes finished the first month with a perfect six wins continuing to press the opposition finishing with 33 goals while allowing 12 to end the month with 193 penalty minutes.

The dominating win saw the Sockeyes head home stealing all three stars with Mattias Uyeda was named first star, David Yoon second star and William Huo named third star.

October starts with the first game of the tunnel series against the Delta Ice Hawks who have relocated to the Sungod Arena in North Delta who are attracting a much larger crowd than in Ladner.

October could be more of a test for the Sockeyes with the opposition looking at handing them their first loss, which the Sockeyes look to avoid.

Sockeyes home games are Thursday evening at 7 pm at Richmond’s Minoru Arena.